Generally, absorbent articles like sanitary napkins, overnight pads, pantiliners, incontinent garments and even some underarm shields are designed to be attached to an adjacent garment, such as an undergarment, in order to hold the product stationary during use. Pressure sensitive adhesives provide one method currently employed to affix a product to an adjacent garment. The pressure sensitive adhesive is normally applied to the undergarment facing surface of the product and is temporarily covered by a releasable peel strip. Although adhesive is widely used today, it does exhibit some disadvantages. First, the cost of the adhesive and the releasable peel strip will increase the overall cost of the product. Second, during manufacture special equipment and extra steps are required to apply the adhesive to the absorbent article and then center the peel strip over the adhesive. Third, the adhesive can be a nuisance in that it tends to stick to the inner surface of an undergarment and can leave a tacky residue once the absorbent article is removed. The build up of this residue will stain and can eventually ruin the undergarment. Fourth, it is difficult to reposition the absorbent article in the undergarment once the adhesive has been attached to the undergarment. Representative samples of adhesive attachments can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,687,478; 4,701,178 and 3,315,677.
Still, other means for holding an absorbent article secure to an undergarment includes mechanical type fasteners. These include buttons, button holes, hooks and loops, end extensions and tabs which are designed to interlock or engage some type of supporting belt or strap. These types of fasteners are being used less frequently today because they are difficult to attach and some are not very discrete under tight fitting clothing. Representative samples can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,609,373; 3,749,095; 3,704,710; 3,460,535; 3,420,236; 2,949,114; 2,890,701 and British patent 862,763.
Another approach to holding an absorbent article in place during use is to utilize attachments built into the product which function in combination with the undergarment. Representative structures include side flaps and wings which partially or completely wrap around the crotch portion of an undergarment. Some, like European patent application 0,337,438 appear to only prevent sideways movement, while others, like U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,285,343; 4,589,876; 4,608,047 and 4,759,754 utilize flaps which wrap completely around the crotch portion of an undergarment and are held together by tape or adhesive. Many of these types of fasteners are cumbersome to apply or require extra material to form the flaps.
Now an absorbent article having a clasp has been developed, along with a method of fastening the absorbent article to an undergarment. The clasp is relatively stiff and can bend about a hinge line so as to prevent sideways and lengthwise movement of the absorbent article relative to an undergarment.